TEMECULA: Commission approves new annexation attempt

The Temecula Planning Commission approved an application
Wednesday to annex 4,510 acres of land on the city's southwestern
border, a large parcel that abuts land targeted by Granite
Construction for its controversial Liberty Quarry project.

The commission's recommendation will be sent to the Temecula
City Council for consideration and, if the council signs off on the
plans as expected, the city will receive a third audience with
Riverside County's Local Agency Formation Commission in the span of
about a year.

The 4-0 vote by the city commission, with Commissioner Ron
Guerriero absent, was literally applauded by dozens of residents, a
group that included some Rainbow property owners.

"The city of Temecula would be the best steward for these
backyard hills," said Ken Johnson, one of 11 people who spoke in
favor of the application.

Last year, the county commission rejected two separate attempts
by the city to annex the land, which consists of a handful of ranch
homes and the reserve, a field station managed by San Diego State
University.

In its first attempt, the city tried to annex 5,000 acres that
included the land eyed by Granite for a quarry, an open-pit mine
that, the company says, would help address a shortage of building
materials in Southern California and help remove pollution-belching
trucks from Riverside County roads.

Months later, the city submitted a revised application ---- the
"exact proposal" considered on Wednesday, according to city
staffers ---- along with a request for the commission to reconsider
its previous application.

The commission rejected that request because of what it said was
a lack of new evidence that would have allowed it to reconsider the
previous decision, a 5-2 vote in June decried by opponents of the
quarry project.

The opponents claim the quarry will negatively affect the area's
environment, especially its air quality, and have said it poses a
threat to the area's tourism industry and the sacred land of the
Pechanga tribe.

Before the public hearing Wednesday, city planner Betsy Lowery
told the Planning Commission that the new application would allow
the city to protect the reserve and the five miles of the Santa
Margarita River that flows within its borders.

Lowery said about 225 acres of the 4,510 sought by the city
would be zoned hillside residential and if those parcels were
developed the zoning would allow 22 homes.

She added that residents living within the proposed annexation
area support the idea and that one landowner who owns 38 acres of
vacant property submitted a letter in opposition.

That landowner, identified by Lowery as Nelson Mamey, said in
the letter that he was concerned about reports of the city
developing the reserve into a park, a prospect that he said could
diminish the value of his land due to traffic and other types of
related issues.

In response to his letter, Lowery told the commission, "There
are no plans for a park."

During the public hearing, Matt Rahn, program director of the
ecological reserve, said there have been plenty of questions about
what will happen to the 50-year-old reserve if it is annexed. And
he promptly provided an answer.

"We envision another 50 years of research, education and
outreach," he said.

Granite Construction project manager Gary Johnson attended the
meeting, but did not address the commission.

During an interview after the meeting, Johnson said the company
wants to support the city's new annexation application but is still
reviewing the city's staff report.